Petition asks Onondaga Central school district to hold special election to fill school board post

The petition

Here's the petition.

A group of Onondaga Central school district residents has petitioned school officials to hold a special election to fill the vacancy left by the departure of Lisa DeOrdio.

The call is contained in a petition circulating in the district. Julie Featherstone, who started an online version of the petition, said the drive had garnered 117 signatures online as of Friday afternoon with another 14 signatures on a paper version of the petition.

The petition was submitted to the board Friday, and the petitioners asked the board to include discussion of the petition on the agenda for the next board meeting, Featherstone said.

The school board next meeting is 7 p.m. Tuesday in the high school library, and school Superintendent Joe Rotella said the petition came in too late to be included on the agenda. He said he cannot speak for the board but was confident the petition would come up for discussion.

He also said residents can sign up at the beginning of the meeting to speak during the hearing, so one way or another the issue is likely to come up at the meeting.

If the board balks at balloting, Featherstone said, the petition names two candidates — Richard Becher II and Anthony Baleno— the signers would like the board to choose from for the post.

The petition raises several other concerns, including poor communication by school officials, a lack of transparency in conducting school business and allegations of secret meetings between the board and administration.